A note for all the people concerned about more services being restored in the South than in the North.
Thanks to Covid, training in the North is well behind where it should be. It was suspended completely for several months last year, and for most of the time since then it's been running at a slower pace than normal.
Obviously these issues have occurred in the South as well, but because the valleys are a much simpler network it's not had anywhere as big an impact. AFAIK all trainee drivers down there are qualified on the entire Valleys network from day one. All they've had to worry about down there is 769 training, and given the reduced service level it's not been too hard to get enough staff trained on them to staff a reliable service (769 unreliability notwithstanding).
In the North it's different; the route cards are longer and the traction cards are more diverse. Trainees need more training - and that's before we add in the new traction coming in.
Shrewsbury, Crewe and Chester all have a backlog of drivers who need route learning to be fully productive. At the same time, the latter two depots also have traction training going on (MKIVs and 230s respectively).
They're getting through the training as fast as possible (there have been days when all 3 MKIV sets have been out - 2 for training and 1 in passenger service) but it's going to be a while before there's enough staff available to staff the full timetable - and also permit 197 training to take place.